having had planned our trip to Japan for a long time now (actually, my wife did all the planing. She is a Fan of the culture, and even started learning the language 4 years ago), we had decided to go for the O hanami (Cherry Blossom) in April. Unfortunately, we missed it by 2 weeks. The weather was not our ally this time. But this leaves room for another trip in the future !

The beginning was quite stressful, as of course, during almost all holidays, Air-France pilots decided to go on strike. The problem with that was that in the event that our flight would not take-off, we'd have to take another flight some days later (which was out of the question, the planning was finished and we would have lost too much time). Fortunately we have a friend working at Air France who "made" some ladies contact us to change our flight, 3 days earlier (instead of Monday, we took off the previous Friday). So we had to book a Hotel for 3 nights. Very honestly, in Tokyo a double room has just enough place to lay down next to each other and stop moving. Tiny! But cute as an origami awaited us.

But let's focus on the trip !!! As we had "only" around 18 days onsite, the plan was to check out Tokyo the first half, then Kyoto the second half. And - as we wanted to live it the Japanese way, the flats we rented (through AirBnB) were also Japanese type flats with tatamis all over. Needless to say we ate with Chopsticks and sat on the floor all the time. We met incredible people, warm and welcoming, always ready to help when we looked a bit lost. These people are amazing and their country is a textbook for efficiency, politeness and cleanliness.

Tokyo is mostly a modern city because it suffered innumerable earthquakes throughout its history and extensive bombing during the 2WW (for example, the Senso-ji was completely destroyed but rebuilt a few years later - all were not so lucky). Hence the skyscrapers and brightly lit districts such as Akihabara, Shibuya and Ikebukuro where we strolled and didn't manage to take a lot of good pictures because it is so lit and teaming with life, it was close to impossible to have a clear image. But we did experience the Maid's Café which was funny but indecently expensive. We also went to the movies to watch Ready player one in English (our oldest is fluent and the young one is improving everyday). We also had a peak of the famous Shibuya crossing from Starbucks overlooking the flow. To sum up, our evenings were quite busy.

Of course we visited some of the wonders of this city which was first named Edo (and it has a fascinating museum dedicated to this period) and was the "capital" of Japan's equivalent Chief of Staff, named Shogun. Before settling in Edo, they were ruling Kamakura which today is home to numerous temples (we only managed to visit 4 during the day, our favorite being the Tokei-ji) and the world famous and very impressive Daibutsu or Great Buddha. The Shogun who unified Japan and brought peace to the archipelago was named Tokugawa Ieyasu and he is a main figure in Japan. We visited monuments dedicated to him such as the Toshogu Shrine in Ueno or the overcrowded but mouth-dropping mausoleum in Nikko. But Shoguns' control ended at the end of the 19th century when the emperor took back his power and moved to Edo, changing its name into Tokyo (which means capital city of the East). Emperor Meiji (it was his name) had a huge park built for himself and his wife. They reopened Japan to western trade and were granted caskets of wine. The imperial family also took over what would become the Shinjuku Gyoen Park and both are absolutely amazing to walk in. As soon as you pass the Torii quietness just falls on you and the bustling of the city just vanishes.

But the kids also had their imperatives such as the Pokemon Centre where they bought stuffed Pokemons and other goodies. We also purchased stuff in the Ghibli dedicated shops (it had been to late to find tickets for the Museum). Seeing the great pandas and their baby at Ueno zoo, the oldest one in Japan, was unavoidable. So we complied ! Finally, we made the trip to the fashionable beach resort of Tokyo's inhabitants and it was indeed quite crowded but we enjoyed reading and listening to music on the sand.
Check out our Tokio Gallery.

We spent the second half of our trip in Kyoto which is very different from the Tokyo.

In Kyoto, everything is ancient and wonderfully preserved as the city has escaped most of the traumas Tokyo has experienced. Kyoto was, until the end of the 19th century the imperial capital of Japan (hence the imperial palace) and it is literally smothered by temples and shrines. We only visited a selected few amongst the world famous (Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ju, Tenryu-ji and Saiho-ji for example) but we also wandered and were captivated by less known (in Europe) religious places such as the Sanjusangen-do, Kodai-ji or Ninna-ji. The buildings are all in wood, sometimes very sober, other times lavishly decorated. Wooden pathways enable visitors to walk from building to building and to enjoy zen gardens entirely made of gravel with designs and obviously symbolism. We regularly had to take our shoes off and we followed the example of the Japanese visitors who sat and watched those gardens which were almost always close to a pond and a beautiful garden. These places epitomise serenity!

We also left Kyoto to go sightseeing and we visited 2 of the most famous places in Europe and the world: Himeji castle also called the White Heron as it is indeed very white. The exteriors are breathtaking ! but the inside is completely empty. We were lucky to be the last to enter the grounds in around 4 pm and we avoided the 2 hours of line which awaited us at 10 am. But it was for the best as we discovered the Engyo-ji, nestled in the Shosha mountains and reachable thanks to a ropeway. The whole site is gigantic and full of surprises such as the shooting site of "The Last Samurai", the movie which triggered my wife's love for everything that is Japanese. Our last field trip was at Nara, the imperial capital before Kyoto, where we were happy to stroke fawns and ... walk in their droppings!!! But the Great Buddha resting under the world's biggest wooden building was worth the slalom.

Finally the traditional neighbourhood called Gion wasn't a disappointment as it is quite authentic and very charming despite the number of tourists. But as most of them come from Asia we always had the feeling we were part of the rare Europeans walking around and enjoying everything. We hoped on buses and were helped by locals, we were introduced to the very codified and charming tea ceremony, we enjoyed the food courts which permitted everybody to eat what they wanted ... and we left exhausted but very happy and dazzled by this country of which we only glimpsed the surface. But we are already planning our next trip which will be ... a road trip, one of those we are accustomed to.
Check out our Kyoto Gallery.